Police Blotter, Jan. 1, 2014

Man leads authorities on chase

A Grovetown man was arrested Monday morning after leading police on a chase and trying to ram them.

Ricardo A. Bell, 28, of Old Augusta Highway, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault and numerous traffic charges, according to Columbia County sheriff’s Maj. Rick Whitaker.

The incident began just before 10:30 a.m. on Mustang Drive in Harlem. As Bell fled from Harlem Department of Public Safety officers, he tried to hit their patrol cars. Officers chased Bell out of the city on Gordon Highway. Sheriff’s deputies joined the chase on Old Augusta Highway. It continued onto Old Louisville Road, where Bell sped at about 80 miles per hour.

Bell’s car spun into a ditch on Reynolds Farm Road. As deputies approached Bell’s vehicle, he lunged forward hitting the two patrol cars.

No none was injured and the patrol cars sustained moderate to severe damage, Whitaker said.

Bell was arrested and taken to the Columbia County Detention Center.

The following accounts were taken from Columbia County Sheriff’s Office incident reports:

Man fought with deputies, others

A Martinez man was arrested Friday after he fought with the mother of his child, then a deputy.

Demetrius Antoine Ferguson, 25, of Quinn Drive, was charged with obstruction of law enforcement, simple battery, reckless driving, driving without a license and failure to obey a traffic control device.

A woman told deputies that she and Ferguson, with whom she shares a daughter, got into an argument at about 5 p.m. at his parents’ Evans home and he pushed her. She said she locked herself and her daughter inside her car and locked the doors. Ferguson, then banged on the windows and jumped up and down on the top of the car screaming.

A neighbor said he and his wife were walking down the street and saw Ferguson on top of the car cursing. He then began cursing at the couple, got off of the car and ran toward them and got into the neighbor’s face while cursing.

The neighbor said he tried to walk away, but Ferguson hit him in the back. When the neighbor said he was calling authorities, he said Ferguson went back to his Jeep, drove in reverse to the couple, who had to jump out of the way of the vehicle. Ferguson got out of the Jeep, started cursing at the neighbor again before driving back to his parents’ home.

The woman said while Ferguson was cursing at the neighbor, she ran to another neighbor’s home with her daughter.

When the deputy arrived, he found Ferguson parked at the neighbor’s house cursing at the mother of his child. Ferguson quickly walked to his Jeep. The deputy ordered him to stop, but Ferguson got in and started the engine. The deputy ran and caught up with Ferguson at the end of the driveway. The window was down, so the deputy tried to reach in and grab the keys from the ignition, but Ferguson pushed his hand away and blocked the deputy from reaching in as the Jeep continued moving backwards.

Ferguson drove away quickly and ran a stop sign at Mullikin Road. Ferguson sped past another deputy and ran a red light to turn left onto Furys Ferry Road. He turned into Deerwood Lane, where her was found and arrested.

The neighbor Ferguson cursed at refused to press charges and the mother of his child didn’t cooperate with deputies.

Ferguson was being held in the Columbia County Detention Center on Monday without bond, according to jail records.

Mailbox isblown up

An Appling woman said Friday that someone blew up her mailbox.

The 52-year-old woman said she heard a loud noise outside at about 8:30 a.m.

When her son arrived about two hours later, he saw the damaged mailbox.

Inside the mailbox, the woman found a soda bottle with tin foil and some liquid in it that appeared to have exploded.

Dog found dead in pond

A Grovetown man called deputies Thursday after he found his dog dead in a nearby pond.

The 58-year-old man said the dog went missing on Dec. 20. While he was working in the front yard, the man said the 18-year-old miniature Pinscher was walking around the yard and private driveway. The man said he searched for the dog for three days and even hired a pet detective with three tracking dogs who searched for six hours with no luck.

The man said he found his dog on Christmas day in the pond behind his home. The dog appeared to have been cut in the chest and had its front leg severed.